Dividing sheet fabric into strips



July 12,1949. J. H. MCCUSKER. 2,476,262

DIVIDING SHEET FABRIC INTO STRIPS Filed June 15, 1946 STEAM Vacuum PuMP '..jf/ I Y INVENTOR. 1]b%/7fi Macffzzs/rer 26 M WM ATTORNEYS Patented July 12, 1949 DIVIDING" SHEET FABRIG" INTO STRIPS;

John .H. McGuskerl. Barrlngton, ILL, assignontd. Rhode lsland. Lace. Works, Ina, a corporation.

of Rhode Island.

Application June ls; 1946; S'erial'No. eras-5c 3 Claims..

This inventiorrrelates. to the dividing; of; a; sheet of. fabric into. strips;- narrower' than the:- composite woven width of the fabric andiszparticularly; adapted for: themanufactureof; narrow stripsof lace such as',ma-y b e.'produced by Leverslacemachines, bobbinet machinea, lace curtain. machines, embroidery machines; Barmenima.- chines, Raschellor. tricot knitting machines.

It is usualin; the manufacture of certain narrow fabrics, particularly 'narrowstrips-of: lace, to form: these, strips. in; a. w-ideeweb. and. then divide 1 the web. lengthwise. tOs provide. the narrower strips desired. The weavingtakes place by. the use of a connecting thread which may be'removed so thatthe; strips will bev formed. Such. a thread in some casesispulled from. the fabric .mechanically; whilein some cases the: thread. is; dissolved,- such as shown" in. the patent to Spalding 1,665,230. Inthedissolving of a.-. thread, various:

means-havebeeniprovidedr such for instance. as.-

the apparatus. shown: in Spalding Patent.- No,.-, 1;8.65,,2l8 dated June 28, 1932.- The apparatus. which isdisclosed inthis patent" deals; with; the rolling, of the-.fabricaround acore for processing;v and-when alarge; number of narrow. strips. are i to be provided, it is found extremely; confusingtounroll theanarrow. stripsfrom. the core after the separation. has been accomplished. The; strips: mustall be. removed simultaneously; and; many times. the: stripsbecome? mixed; and a tangled. and, the labor, involved becomes highly skilled. Great: care; must be takenand: the process is slow.

One. ofthe objects of thisinventions is TAD-p201 videaa more economical procedure-for. the overall;

dividing of, asheet fabric into a plur.a1i-ty=.of. stripsa.

Another. object of this invention. is, to provide; atmeans:wherebyit.v will beunnecessaryto handle; all of the strips which are severed from'aweb'at-l. one-timaand-it will be: unnecessary to draw the strips from the package in which they are handled at the; same speed. Thus is becomes a simple matter to handle a few of the strips,at onetime rather'than the necessity ofhandling, all of the strips at one time.

Another robjectyoff' the. invention. is to provide a very simple treating chamber for dissolvingthev connecting yarns of the web.

Another object of'the invention. is to. provide an arrangement where greatv flexibility, of; the processis provided.

With these and" other objects. in view,, the invention consists of certain, novel features. of construction, as will'be more fully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig-,l is: a d-iagrammatic sectional view illus trating. thetreatingy container and ameans of; circulating, liquid. therein;

Rig,- 2; is. a diagrammatic I view; showing: in; sec, tion. a. means. of folding; the a fabric into oneof;- theqbaskets which: forms.a,-unit for handling; the material;

Fig, 3-is a;perspective-view of thebasketillustrating: a: portion of the strips as drawn- I there-.-.

from over: an, inspecting tableg Fig, 4' is a diagrammatic section-a1 view illusitrating the reeling ofthe-strips directly-from-tha treating basket.

Inproceeding, with. this. invention, I fold ;or-:

p-laitthebroaclweb-to.be separated into a wire thesolublegyarns dissolvedathe'baskets are then.

placed adjacenttheinspecting: table or reeling; table and one, two, or three or any part of the separatedistrips maybe-drawn from the basket independentlyof others which-i may remain ands be; inspected and reeled. By? drawing only a: portion of; the stripsfrom" thev basket, no tangle: need occur.

Withtreferenceto the drawings; 10 designates. a wire basket which is formedfrom angle iron; frame 'workconsisting of: uprights l2 joined at"; their bottombya rectangular framel3; wh-ile=1 they; are joined: at the ends atrtha upper partsi of. the-uprights; H by; angle-irons; I14 having their-:- flanges extending outwardly to serve both as handlesanda restsfor: the, angle irons. I2; at. the. lower portion;.-ofthebasket: next above it. A foraminous-wall lfivwhich may. 'bBIQfT wire is provided: between theuprights H so. as;-toform. a: container: for fabric: and" yet; allow liquidto; immerse the ffibIiCF-Whilfi in the; basket. The

fabricator be treated-is-designated generally l6;

and may be: drawn from any; suitable source of supply. such-for instance' as a: tenter frame, wheresome treatment of; theefabric; occurs: over rolls l I and tothe.plaitingzmechanisml designated gen-- 'erally, t8; whichthas'feedrolls l9: andxZfir and-pa:

swinging, delivering; arm 2L This folding. on plaiting mechanism will lay the fabric llfir into. the basket l0 back and forth as illustrated at 22 in Fig. 2.

A plurality of these baskets II) are then superimposed one upon the other as shown in Fig. 1 in the chamber which is of a size to receive them and has a bottom wall 26 and side walls 21. This chamber is provided with a steam jacket 28 formed by an outer wall 29 spaced from the side wall 27 and spaced from the bottom wall 26 as at 30. A cover 3| which may be readily removed may be clamped in position by screws 32. A valve 33 may be provided for a gage or pressure outlet if desired while a loop 34 is provided for more readily lifting the cover by some mechanical means.

The chamber 25 in which the foraminous containers ill which are to be immersed in a solvent which will dissolve the tying threads in the sheet fabric 16 which has been placed in the baskets. Usually this thread is formed of cellulose acetate and a solvent for this is acetone. After th cover is placed in position, the solvent 35 which is housed in tank 36 is supplied to the-chamber 25 through pipe line 31 by pump 38 which is piped from the pump by pipe 39 to the inlet 40 of the chamber 25. Suitable valves 4| in the pipe line 31 to the pump and valve 42 in the pipe line 35 to the chamber are provided :for controlling the flow of liquid.

From the bottom of the chamber 25 there extends an outlet 43 which through pipe line 44 connects as at 45 between the valve 4i and the pump 38. A valve 46 serves to control this line 44. A pipe line 41 also joins as at 4B the outlet of the pump and is controlled by a'valve 49. This pipe line 41 connects with a return line 58 to the tank 36 which line is controlled by the valve 5|. There also is located in the line 47 another valve 52 for a further control. An exhaust line 53 is connected to the upper end of the chamber 25 and to a vacuum pump 54 for reducing the pressure in, the chamber 25 when desired. A pet cock 55 is also provided in the line 44 so that visual drainage from the chamber may be determined.

In order to heat the chamber 25, steam may be injected into the jacket 28 through the pipeline 56 and 5'! which is controlled by valve 58. Steam may be let out of this jacket through the line 59 and valve 60.

After the webs of fabric IS in the baskets are placed in the chamber 25, the valves 42 and 41 will be opened while the valves 45 and 49 will be closed. The pump will then draw liquid from the tank 35 pumping it into the chamber 25. Any means may be used for conveying the liquid into this tank, this however being a convenient one. This liquid will enter the chamber 25 until the baskets are immersed. The valve 4] will then be closed, the valve 46 opened, and then by further running the pump, the liquid which has already been placed into the chamber 25 will be circulated through the chamber and through the goods in the baskets. This operation is continued until the cellulose acetate tying yarns are completely dissolved. The valve 42 is then closed and the valves 49 and 51 opened, when the liquid will then be drawn out through the pipe 44 through the pump and through the line 41 and 58 back to the tank, or in case it is desired to? distill the liquid, the valve 52 which would be normally closed could be opened, the valve 51 shut, and the liquid could be conveyed to a distilling point. The pet cook 55 will be utilized for determining when all of the liquid is drawn from the chamber 25.

In order to extract all of the solvent from the chamber 25, the vacuum pump 54 may be operated and steam may be inserted by opening valve 58 to heat the chamber 25 so as to evaporate the solvent and under the low pressure of the vacuum pump the solvent will be evaporated and recovered by utilizing standard equipment commonly used for this purpose. The cover may then be removed and the baskets 10 may be positioned adjacent a table as shown in Fig. 3 where each of the strips 65 and 66 or 61 and so on may be drawn from the basket, either one at a time or two at a time or at varying speeds for inspection as desired such as drawn by the jennier across the inspection table 58 or in some cases where inspection is not needed these strips may be wound as at the jenny or winder 69 at the end of a jenny table 78. By confining the number of strips which are drawn from the basket 1130 a few, there is no chance of mixup and it is unnecessary to provide a number of operators who may get in each others way with consequent inefliciency.

I claim:

1. The method of dividing into strips a lace sheet having a plurality of longitudinal strips connected together by longitudinal threads which are soluble in a liquid which will not dissolve the threads of said lace strips and permit ready withdrawal of the individual strips without tangling which .comprises folding said sheet into a foraminous container, subjecting the folded sheet to the action of a solvent to dissolve the soluble threads to form separate strips and drawing some of the strips from the container.

2. The method of dividing into strips a lace sheet having a plurality of longitudinal strips connected together by longitudinal threads which are soluble in a liquid which will not dissolve the threads of said lace strips and permit ready withdrawal of the individual strips without tangling which comprises folding said sheet into a ioraminous container, subjecting the folded sheet to the action of a solvent to dissolve the soluble threads to form. separate strips and drawing less than all of the strips from the container at the same time.

3. The method of dividing into strips a lace sheet having a plurality of longitudinal strips connected together by longitudinal threads which are soluble in a liquid which will not dissolve the threads of said lace strips and permit ready withdrawal of the individual strips Without tangling which comprises folding said sheet into a foraminous container, subjecting the folded sheet to the action of a solvent to dissolve the soluble threads to form separate strips and drawing the strips from the container directly to a winding device.

JOHN H. McCUSKER.

REFERENCES CITED The following referenlces are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 188,385 Low Mar. 13, 1877 1,396,792 Taylor Nov. 15, 1921 1,665,230 Spalding Apr. 10, 1928 1,865,218 Spalding June 28, 1932 2,353,615 Kauffmann et al. July 11, 1944 2,391,605 Kaufimann et al. Jan. 1, 1946 

